Chtjsetts



. evenness COPY NlTED drains nnnunv r. CLARK AND NATHAN n. INGRAHAM', or HOLYOKE, MAssA;

. CHUSETTS.

SiliFETY PlN.

ifaPECIFICA'IION forming part of Letters Patent No. 386,000, dated July 10, 1888.

Application filed April 1, 1888. Serial No.2fi9,9l8. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: the pin, and I) the spring-coil at the rear end ie t knownthat we, FirnUnY P. CLARK thereof, which are or may be of the ordinary and Ns'rnan' D. INGRAH'AM, of I-Iolyohc, in constructiozu l the county of llampdcn and Commonwealth 'lhelctter c designates themovable pointed; of Massachusetts, have invented a new and prong of the pin, which is-Iikewise of-i-he or 5;, useful Improvement in Safety-Pins, of which dinary construction, except that immediately 1 i the following is a specification, reference be in the rear of its point it is slightly flattened ng had to the accompanying drawings, formtransversely, as shown at cin Figs. 1, 2, 4, and i! l l thereof. 5, or is made with a slight bulge ii ninediately v :0 The object of our invention is to provide a behind its point, as showfi in Fig. 3,. both for 6d safety-pin which will havejincans for posia purpose which will be presently described. tivcly locking the point of the pin within its As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the guard dis of guard or shield in such manner that said point the same general form as that heretofore used,.- cannot be withdrawn from the guard in a dibeing a flattened hollow receptacle open atrection' parallel with the axis of the pin. It one end, and is secured to the prong a by sol- 65 18 well known that the strain exerted upon a dering in the usual manner. lnone of the safety-.piuwhen-in use i s exerted i animation flattenedsiiles of thegum'dJLisa. slot dflscx'i at a right angle, or substantially so, to the axis tending. from theopen toward the closed end of the pin, and that this strain causes the midof theguard, preferably at an acute angle to 20 dleportionoflhepin to bendontwardly,wherethe prong a, its open end being located'at e170 by its point is withdrawn from the guard in a point substantially midway between the two dircction parallel with its axis and the pin is extremities of the open end of the guard. rendered inoperative until again straightened. Said slot d serves as the passage for theend In addition to the annoyance caused by the of prong c to and from the" interior of the; liability of the pin to thus disengage itself at guard, and being arranged at the angle de-. 75 any moment,thc constant bending and strai ghtscribed, preventsthe passage of the said prong ening thereof soon weakens it to such an extheiethrough, except when the latter is coin-J tent as to render itentirely useless, and it is pressed sufficiently to bring its pointed end thrown aside for a new one. substantially parallel with the wall of said, As above stated, our invention is designedslot lying farthest away from the fixed prong '80 to overcome this vital objection to-safcty-pins c, thus lnateri. lly decreasing the liability of as heretofore constructed; and to this end the the prong c to escape from the guard when invention consists in a safety-pin having a accidentally compressed. As hereinbefore guard constructed to-positively engage the stated, however, the most common cause'of 3,5 pointed prong of the pin transversely'of the accidental escape of'the prong cfrorn the 85 latte i and securely lock it against endwise guard is the strain exerted upon the prongsa', movement, as hereinafter fully described, and 0 when the pin is used to unite separate ar-' particularly pointed out in the claims. ticles or portions-of the same articleof clothe.

Referring to the drawings, in which like lug ina direction substantially perpendicular no parts are designated by like letters in the sev-. to the axes of said proirgsiwliere y thgyam L 0 crnl' views, ligui'e 1. is a view in perspective bent outwardly in their midcllpf on ,and of a safetypin constructed according to our the end of prong c is withdraw from-the invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the guard. lVe therefore provide-'theguardif tli". guard, taken upon linemm of Fig. l, and a view means for positivelyeugagingwithcorresp'o I in side elevation of the pointed prong of the ing means upon said prongv m neue arena 95' pin. Fig.3 shows a slightly-modified form of strain is exerted upon saidjpro"v hereby" the pin proper. Fig. 4: is a. plan, and Fig. 5 a the latteris prevented fronl'withdrawing from perspective View, of the pin made from a sinthe guard in the directioniof its length.f--.' g

gle piece of wire. shown in Figs. 1 and 2, "such engaging means The letter a designates the fixed prong .of ."bn the guard consists'of an inw'ardly-exteud ing flang d", upon each of the flattened sides at the open end of the guard and upon that portion of said end lying between slot (2' and i said prong between said depression and its point. The prong 0 therefore is adapted to have a free lateral mm'emcutwithin the guard so long as the plane of its depression 0' coin cides with that of flanges (Z and the pin operates like the ordinary safety-pin; but as soon as a strain is exerted upon thepin which would have a tendency to bend said prong c the outermost wall 'of depression 0 is brought against flanges d and further bending thereof is prevented and the point of said prong is positively retained within the guard. Such out-- crmost wall of said depression thus forms a stop upon the prong'to be engaged by the flanges d", and in Fig. 3 we have shown said prong as being provided with a stop in the form ot'a slight bulge or enlargement immediately in the rear of its point, which operates in the same manner and yet does not'intert'cre with the insertion of the prong through a fabric nor with its withdrawal therefrom.

In Figs. iand 5 we have shown thesafety-piu made from a continuous piece of wire, in which prong a is bent ata rightangle to form the transverse bar a, is then bentback upon itself to form bar a", which is preferably slightly more than onehalt' the length of bar a, is then bent outwardly, 'iiei'erably at an acute angle to prong (t, to form bar a", is again bent to l'orm bar a parallel to bar a, after which it is bent downwardly to form shoulder lr", and is finally bent at a right angle to form bar a, which extends parallel with prong a to thc iunction between bars ca". The said bars, a, c", a, a, and (Ni bus form a guard to receive the pointed end ol' prong c and effectually in close the latter, as'slnnvn in said Figs. 4 and' The space between bars a a corresponds with the space ljictwccn flanges d in the firstdescribcd form of the pin, and said .bars cooperate with the stop on prong c to lock the latter in the same manner; as just described, with reference to said flanges.

'0 are aware thatmeans 'have heretofore been devised for locki ug the end. of the pointed p-rongnf asat'city pin against lateral movement. to prevent; accidental inward compression oi said prong; but, as bcreinbel'ore pointed out, all devices of this nature wholly fail to pro- \itlu against !be most. frequent cause of injury to pins'ol' this kind. inasmuch as they oli'cr no ob truction to the (min iso willnl awzd of said prong whenthc latter is bent outwardly between its ends.

It; is obvious that our invention is equally applicable to breast'pins and other similar articles of jewelry, in which a single prong and guard are used, and we contemplate making such application thereof. It is equally obvious that by mounting the shank of a button upon the pin shown at, coil 1), for example, a very eilicient tuition-fastenerwould be formed. i

We do not wish to limit ourselves to the ex act construction shown and described in allot its various details, as modifications other than those herein mentioned can be made without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having thus fully described our invcntionr" what; we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, ise r 1.. In a safety-pin, fixed prong (l and movablc prong c, havinga sharp point, and having in the rear of said point a portion of slightly less diameter, whereby a transverse stop is formed thereon, in combination with guard 17, secured to said fixed prong a, said guard having slot (1 therein, and having an inwardlyprojccting engaging device at its open end and at one side of said slot for engaging the stop on said prong c, substantially as and [or the purpose described.

2. In asafety-pin, prong a, movableprongc, having a transverse depression therein near its point. guard (I, having therein slot d inclined at an acute angle to said prong a, said guard being provided with the inwardly-ex tending flanges (Z at its open end, the distance between the adjacent edges of which is slightly greater than the diamctcr ol' prong c at the bottom ot'the depression therein and less than the diameter of said prong between said depression and its point substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a safety-pin, a fixed prougaudamovable pointed prong which ncarits pointed end is oftwo diameters, of which the greater is nearest its point, and a guard secured to said fixed prong,- said guard being ctmstrnctcd to receive within it the portion of said movable prong which is-ot' greater diameter, and having in its end adjacent to said prongs an open ing corresponding substantially in width with that portion of said movable prong which is of less diameter, combined and operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

IGMHTJ'RY P. CLARK. NATHAN l). INGHAIIA.

Witnesses:

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